Of the Accountability
By the Editor

PLACING an optimal weight on his viewpoint vis-à-vis the style of accountability in Pakistan, the Prime Minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has called for a process whereby the process of answerability should be placed under — none else than judiciary. He said that the best way to address reservations about accountability law is to place this course under the judiciary.

Going by pragmatism, there can’t be two opinions about the fact that accountability should be judicious, transparent, swift and above all — as clear as crystal — and that, too, irrespective of the social and political status of any-one, may the one be even a stalwart in any arena.

Of-course, there is need to address the public reservations about the accountability law, which ha — by and large — been evoking criticism from a variety of quarters more explicitly by the lawyers community. Prime Minister Shujaat’s concern on accountability is understandable and logical — as such a modus operandi — needs an instant change at least in the best interest of good governance — in any realm like Pakistan.

As is indexed in the pages of the history of the recent past, even the ex-Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had termed the ‘plea bargain’ aspect of the accountability law as — what he [Jamali] phrased as the worst type of corruption.

We, however, strongly feel that the objective cannot be achieved by placing the accountability process under judiciary in view of its own inherent weaknesses and limitations. To an extent, our judiciary is politicized, demoralized and doesn’t have the reputation of ability to deliver justice without fear or favor. Its image as an institution responsible for dispensation of justice stands tarnished in the eyes of the public.

Our judicial system has loopholes, which are invariably exploited by the accused to escape the rigors of law. Besides, the judicial process is very slow. We would, consequently, beg to differ with Chaudhry Shujaat’s plea on this topic. We have time after time emphasized the need for improvement of judiciary to restore public confidence in this institution.

Though, in some-one’s view, the performance of the National Accountability Bureau may not be very outstanding — but is certainly not unsatisfactory if viewed in the context of its achievements. Understandably, there is need to improve the accountability law to rationalize provisions like plea bargain with the principles of justice.

Besides, transparency should be the hallmark of the accountability process. The law needs to be given teeth in order to make punishments deterrent and effective to achieve the real objective of the accountability. The law should not be scrapped — but is required to be improved in the best interests of the people — so as to ensure the evaporation of the axiom; ‘’justice delayed, justice denied’ — and that, too with equilibrium as the hallmark of such an approach, in the most judicious way.●